<h1>Assignment Elements</h1>

<p>For ease of grading, a Workshop Assignment should have a reasonable
    number of &quot;Assessment Elements&quot;. Each element should cover
    a particular aspect of the assignment. Typically an assignment will have
    something between 5 to 15 elements for comments and grading, the
    actual number depending on the size and complexity of the assignment. A peer
    assignment with only one element is allowed and has a similar assessment
    strategy to the standard Moodle Assignment. </p>

<p>The type of elements dependent of the assignment's grading strategy.</p>

<p><b>Not Graded.</b> The elements are descriptions of aspects of the assignment.
    The assessor is asked to comment on each of these aspects. As with all the grading
    strategies, there is also an area for general comments.</p>


<p><b>Accumulative Grading.</b> The elements have the following three features:
<ol>
<li>The DESCRIPTION of the assessment element. This should clearly state what
    aspect of the assignment is being assessed. If the assessment is qualitative
    it is helpful to give details of what is considered excellent, average
    and poor.</li>

<li>The SCALE of the assessment element. There are a number of predefined
    scales. These range from simple Yes/No scales, through multipoint scales to
    a full percentage scale. Each element has its own scale which should be chosen
    to fit the number of possible variations for that element. Note that the scale
    does NOT determine the element's    importance when calculating the overall
    grade, a two point scale has the same &quot;influence&quot; as a 100 point
    scale if the respective elements have the same weight...</li>

<li>The WEIGHT of the assessment element. By default the elements are given the same
    importance when calculating the overall grade of the assignment. This can be
    changed by giving the more importance elements a weight greater than one, and
    the less important elements a weight below one. Changing the weights does NOT
    effect the maximum grade, that value is fixed by the Maximum Grade parameter
    of the peer assignment. Weights can be assigned negative values, this is an
    experimental feature.</li>
</ol>
</p>

<p><b>Error Banded Grading.</b> The elements will normally describe certain items
    or aspects which must be present in the assignment. The assessment is made on the
    present or absence of these items or aspects. The teacher must all set of grade table which
    give the suggested grades when all the items are present, when one is absent, when two are
    absent, etc. If certain items are more important than others then those items can be given
    a weighting greater than one. Minor items can be given a weighting less than one. The
    overall &quot;error count&quot; is a weighted sum of the missing items. The assessor
    can always make a minor adjustment to these suggested grades.</p>

<p><b>Criterion Grading.</b> The elements will give a set of &quot;level&quot; statements
which can be used to rank the assignment. The statements may be cumulative or they may
each be self contained. The assessor must decide which statement best fits each piece of
work. The teacher must also relate each criterion statement with a suggested grade. These
should normally be in order. The assessor can make a minor adjustment to these
suggested grades.</p>

<p><b>Rubric Grading.</b> This is similar to Criterion Grading but there is more than
one criteria. The number of criteria is given in the assignment parameters. Within each
criterion there can be up to five &quot;level&quot; statements. In a given assignment
the number of levels can vary from criterion to criterion. When setting up a criterion a
blank level statement signals the end of the level statements. Thus some criteria may have
two levels, others have three, up to five levels. The criteria can be weighted. The levels
are scored 0, 1, 2, up to 4. The grade for the assessment is a weighted sum of these
scores.
</p>